Why do “stray” dogs always seem to appear when you have the least amount of time to deal with them?
In your experience, what proportion of lost dogs run away from people, and what proportion will come to a stranger readily? (In my experience, the runners are about 90%, the stranger-friendly ones are less than 10%.)
Why do so many lost dogs have collars and no tags? (You can just use a Sharpie to print a phone number on a collar, people!!)
Why are so few dogs microchipped when this wonderful technology allows for happy reunions years and thousands of miles away from the original dog/owner separation?
Why are so many stray dogs reproductively intact? (I actually know the answer to this one.)
Is it just my community, or are there really more stray pit bull-mixes than any other type of dog?
I have a friend who posits that a stray, intact pit-mix is likely to live longer wandering the streets than he will if turned into the average local shelter. This makes me incredibly sad, but I think it might be true in many communities. Is this true in your community?
If he promised not to fight your dogs or eat your chickens, would you host this sweet fellow while your post-COVID-19 local shelter was not taking in strays? (This is not rhetorical.)
Oh so sad por baby..
I agree with the above comments that only education (mandatory training) , legislation and aggressive spay neuter programs will help solve the ‘stray’ issue. I feel that ‘backyard breeders’ should be illegal with severe fines/consequences. I put stray in quotes because many times these animals have actually been ‘dumped’ or neglected (allowed to be off leash, left alone in back/front yards) due to irresponsible and/or uneducated owners – or owners that have just ‘lost interest’ in their dogs. For many of these dogs- the owner is not looking for them or wanting them back.
My sister has volunteered for an upstate NY shelter for many years and found that even stray dogs with microchips are not the complete solution- the owners that have been found do not want them back.
Yes, in NY many strays are bully type breeds (one reason is that they have been so overbred). I am currently fostering a ‘breeder’ dog from a backyard breeder. She is 11 and was turned in to a shelter- I guess because she outlived her usefulness- she developed mammary cancer. She is afraid of other dogs and the large amount of stray/off leash dogs in most areas of NY (regardless of state leash law) make it difficult to bring her anywhere. But regardless of difficulty- we go out everyday and make the best of it.
I live in Western New York and we get an above average number of Pits and Pit mixes. They don’t seem to have any trouble placing them though you might think with that short coat and our very cold winters that wouldn’t be so. We also get a large number of Beagles, Coonhounds and other hunting dogs that are often hunted in groups. This area receives many dogs from Kentucky, Tennessee and anywhere else that is a kill shelter. So many in the south don’t neuter the males. I’ve heard the owners say foolish things like “Oh let him have a little fun.” Really?
If a dog is used for hunting, then it’s better not to neuter. Otherwise, unless you’re responsibly breeding, I absolutely agree! Same for cats. Get them fixed! I recently discovered the extent of the stray cat problem in our area. You can’t even just take a cat to a shelter if you can’t keep one or if you find a stray. I rescued 3 in my neighborhood last year. All got adopted but wait time to get into a shelter was 3-5 weeks!
For dogs, the country takes all dogs. They used to euthanize more but have a bigger facility now so they euthanize rarely. One dog was listed as being there for nearly a year. Lots of pit mixes here in OH too. Unfortunately, a lot of people are reluctant to take a dog to the shelter because they think it’s likely to be euthanized or not cared for. Education, education, education!
Well, you’ve hit the trifecta of irresponsibility and it’s no wonder a large number ar pit mixes. At least in my area, there is a macho undertone to owning a pit bull. So yes, not neutered. No chip, no tag goes with the fact this dog is running loose. Yard isn’t secure or whatever. There is also a likelihood that if there is no tag it’s a monetary thing. So they don’t want a stray dog traced to them because they won’t be able to pay any fines or fees to get the dog back. Likely another reason the dog isn’t neutered.
The same can be said of the local chihuahuas.
To a lesser degree the German Shepherds and Labs.
This basically means if you adopt from a local rescue or shelter, you’re dealing with a pit mix if it’s big and a chihua mix if it’s small. There may also be some German Shepherd, lab or poodle in there but there will always be pit bull and chihuahua. Sometimes both.
My own dog from a “lab rescue” is American Pit Bull, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, American Staffordshire Terrier, Collie, Rottweiler and American Bully. 90lbs
My parents’ dog is Pit Bull, German Shepherd, Boxer, Cocker Spaniel, American Staffordshire Terrier, Blue Lacy Coonhound, Chow, Doberman Pincher, Collie, Rottweiler. 50 lbs.
Neither have enough Lab on Embarkvet to register at 1%.
I’ve looked at our local shelter. Even their shepherd and lab mixes show significant bull terrier breeds. Since much of their breed labeling is guesswork I assume it is marketing. Easier to adopt out a lab mix than a pit bull mix. That is just reality.
The rescue we got our dogs from pulls pregnant females out of high kill shelters and so has puppies to adopt out. It would be a simple matter to DNA test the puppies. By the time they are old enough to adopt out the tests results would be back. They’d only need to do one puppy so $80 for 8-12 puppies is a minimal expense. But it is a two-edged sword. While for many people knowing what their puppy’s breed mix is would be encouraging, for some it would eliminate that puppy due to breed aversion.
An aggressive spay-neuter program has greatly reduced the stray population and incidences of rabies. However it also means that if you want a dog, even from a rescue, it is going to cost you hundreds of dollars in adoption fees. Even from a shelter unless you are military or a senior. But what you find from a shelter is very limited. The rescues come in and take the puppies, then “sell” them for high adoption fees. They breed specific rescues come in and take anything that vaguely looks like their specialty. The shelters are left with young to adult pit bull terriers, German Shepherds and chihuahuas, most with behavioral issues. And very old dogs with medical conditions.
What would I do with that stray? He’d get snipped, chipped and tagged and join the pack. Legally mine and try to prove otherwise. And he’d have the best life ever.
My dogs don’t wear collars at home. I’ve read to many stories about broken jaws and dead dogs. The dogs are playing one dog gets his lower jaw stuck in the other dog’s collar. Broken jaw, dead dog. My dogs are microchipped/ they wear there colors when we travel
For a number of years, my Bloodhound and I did searches for missing pets all over Vermont and into New Hampshire and New York. I learned a lot about why dogs and cats come up missing and where they go. Sometimes missing dogs did have I.D. (collar with tag and/or microchip), but more often there was none. Dogs usually are not actually “lost”, they are missing. Dogs usually know where they are and where they want to be. It’s the owners that don’t know the whereabouts of their dog.
1. Dogs that had an established home and had just “taken off” were often dogs that had “taken off before but always came back home after a few hours or days”. Most of them take a jaunt and then circle back home. When they don’t return, it is usually because they were picked up by someone, or they were injured by a car or by a porcupine, or in a couple of cases they drowned (bull dogs don’t swim well). Some may have been shot or caught in traps set by careless hunters.
2. Dogs that are frightened by a loud noise and panic (gunshot, fireworks) usually run straight and fast in their attempt to get away from the noise. With fireworks exploding overhead, they can’t get away from the noise and may try to hide. When the noise subsides, they may eventually circle back cautiously. The damage done by fireworks to pets, livestock, and wildlife (let alone the pollution it causes) is horrendous. The stupidity and carelessness of the people involved is horrible, all the pain and pollution just for a couple of hours of “entertainment”. And it isn’t just a 4th of July thing; they get set off for parties, weddings, New Years, or any excuse people can find.
3. Dogs whose owners were on vacation and had been left with another person or were taken to a different place (relative, friend, kennel) often escaped in an attempt to find their owner or their own familiar home. They do usually know where home is and they head in that direction. They don’t know how far it is, they just know the right direction.
4. Dogs that were recently adopted often escape simply because they do not yet feel safe or comfortable with their new owner or home. It is a crucial time for new owners to use utmost caution NOT to let the dog run loose. These dogs may wander but usually head in the direction from which they originally came (foster home, rescue, etc).
Dogs on the run usually hunker down during the day when there are more people to contend with, and then travel at dawn or dusk. Dogs sometimes hide out in garages or sheds, but when possible, will go to farms. Farms are ideal since a dog can find access to water and food (for livestock) and lots of places to hide (in barns, behind hay bales or equipment) and not be noticed.
Dogs that are confined by invisible fence will sometimes take the shock in order to run but then won’t cross back in through the fence. Dogs that are tied out become frustrated and try to escape. And occasionally, dog are purposely removed from their home or yard for nefarious reasons.
One of the worst things anyone can do with a missing dog is to try to catch it or chase it. Dogs can run faster than humans, especially when they are being chased. And if a person (even the owner) or animal is chasing a dog, he will run away from whoever or whatever is chasing him, sometimes with a bad ending such as into a road with traffic. The best way to get the dog is to get down low so you appear smaller and less threatening, and have something (food, toy) to lure the dog to you. Remember a dog doesn’t have to see or hear you – he can smell you. Humans have about 5 million scent cells. Dogs have 250 to 300 million scent cells. Their sense of smell rules them.
There are so many stories I could tell (someday I should write about them), and despite being dragged through woods and thorns and streams and back yards, I enjoyed doing the searches with my Bloodhound. He was fantastic and watching him work was amazing. He was a special boy and the best part of my life. I lost him to cancer and I’ve been devastated ever since.
This is thecreason we have 11dogs currently. All were found wandering thestreets, no collar, no chip. One was 5 lbs and 4 months old and they just dumped him in the „country“. Most of the ones we found were hearworm positive, so even if anybody had ever come forward, i would not have given the dog back.
We now have 2 pit bulls, one pit bull/chow mix who is frankly horrible.
He has lots of fear-aggression, hates our shephard and thus has a muzzle on when they interact….
Need i go on.
And, yes I agree with the above assessment pit bulls because of their fierce reputation attract ignorant people who seem to take it personally to have the dog neutered…they don‘t train or socialize the dog and when they get bored with the animal or the dog is now „old“ they get thrown away.
Most of the shelters in the area will not adopt pit or pit mixes, so no adoption possibility….liability issues. So, yes taking a pit bull or pit mix to most area shelters is an automatic death sentence.
Do i sound disgusted? It‘s because i am. An acquaintance contacted us over the weekend,they got a english mastiff from a breeder. The dog is now 1 and 1/2 years old, big (duh), intact and he realized that his allergies have gotten worse and his mother-in-law lives with the family and and and would we be willing to take him, because we are dog lovers….
Made me want to throw up….sorry for the rant.
Can I be blunt? There are lots of stray pits because they tend to attract ignorant people. And ignorant people don’t spay/neuter, and often let dogs roam without a properly fenced yard. Thus, they are able to breed and end up on the streets. Before anyone has a cardiac, this is not a condemnation of the breed. The two best dogs I ever had were pit bull/pit mixes. I lost them both within the last year and it broke my heart. Another dog I helped re-home was an unneutered male pit, he too, had a fantastic, loving, docile personality. Three other pits I stopped for: one growled, one gave off dangerous vibes (so I did not attempt intake on either), and a third came readily, but was so wild we could barely control her. We were able to find her owner, thank God. Percentage of total dogs who ran versus those who came? Maybe 50/50? Hard to say, because we obviously remember better the ones we catch. I have found that sometimes, if you can drive around the block and get out to meet them so they’re coming your direction, rather than being pursued, they may calm down and come to you. I was able to get yet another female pit mix in this manner. God she was sweet. She was running with an electrical cord around her neck (!). Finally, the collar and tag issue is SO important. I don’t understand why there isn’t a nationwide push for this. Yeah chips are great, but you can SEE a collar from your car. If you see what looks to be contact info, people are more likely to stop, because there’s a better chance they can find the owner. It also signals that ‘this is someone’s pet’, not just a stray that I will then be responsible for. I am so disgusted with most of our elected officials. These issues could easily be improved with just a little legislative and monetary help. Instead, 99% of animal rescue efforts fall on us.